Why are we holding Covenant Writing Sessions?
As Unitarian Unversalists, our religion is a covenantal one; that is, we do not have a creed we subscribe to, but we agree to covenant with each other within our church.
Covenants are living things – they come alive by the act of fulfilling them and periodically checking in to see how we are doing. While there are some who are happy with our current covenant, there are others in our congregation who feel excluded by it, in particular those who are non-theistic or whose faith tradition call their deity by a name other than ‘God’. We want to work towards a covenant that is more inclusive and reflective of who we all are, the values that we share, and the promises that we make to one another.
Do you really want my participation?
In a word – Yes! We are all part of this church community, and so it is important that we all participate in shaping the words that we say and promise to one another. If you’re happy with the current covenant, if you’re not, if you’re not sure – we want you all to participate.
How will the process work?
A group of dedicated facilitators, who are church members, are being trained by Rev. Marta in the process that we are going to follow. These facilitators will lead the discussions on Saturday, February 10 in groups of 8-10 people, where a few questions will be posed to you and, through answering those questions, you will craft a covenant with your group during one of two timeslots:
The facilitators will then get together to review the covenants that the various groups came up with, to craft the final covenant which will be revealed in the potluck after church on Sunday, February 11.
After that time, we will ‘try on’ the new covenant for the rest of the church year, and then vote up or down to adopt it during our annual meeting on June 3.
Will there be childcare?
We will look to make childcare available during one or two of the three timeslots if needed. If you need childcare, please let me know in advance at brendan.shea@gmail.com.
Kids are also welcome to participate or join the workshops.